Through dialogue people can come together for a mutual exchange of ideas, observations and experiences. Dialogues go beyond the usual interactions between practitioners and recipients of mental health services. They provide a safe environment in which participants may speak freely to create better understanding and mutual trust and respect. For the first time ever, this participatory dialogue manual, developed by mental health consumers, offers a blueprint for action. It describes the benefits of dialogue meetings and provides easy-to-follow detailed specific action steps on how states, local communities, providers, managed care organizations, advocates, family members and consumers can organize meetings to develop working partnerships to improve mental health service delivery. The goal is to bring all stakeholders together on a level playing field and to develop the kinds of partnerships that are needed to improve mental health services.